What makes it white tea
White tea is made by doing as little as possible. The leaf is withered — traditionally outdoors, moved between sun and shade over a day or more — and then dried. There is no kill-green step and no deliberate rolling, so a small amount of oxidation happens incidentally rather than by design. The name comes from the fine silvery down on the unopened buds, not from the colour of the liquor, which is gold rather than white.
A short history
White tea as a distinct commercial category is comparatively recent, associated with Fujian and with the Da Bai large-bud cultivars developed there in the nineteenth century. Earlier references to 'white tea' in Chinese sources describe different things — including, confusingly, pale-leafed green teas such as the modern Anji Bai Cha, which is a green tea despite its name. Pressed white tea for ageing is more recent still, and now drives a substantial part of the market.
How it is made, and the grade ladder
Wither, then dry. The grades describe what was picked rather than what was done to it. Bai Hao Yin Zhen (Silver Needle) is buds only. Bai Mudan (White Peony) is buds plus the first one or two leaves. Gong Mei and Shou Mei run leafier and later still. Price descends down that ladder and body ascends, which is why Bai Mudan is the grade most people should actually buy: it has more to give in the cup than Silver Needle at a fraction of the cost.
What it tastes like, and how it ages
Fresh white tea is hay-sweet, melon-like and gently floral, with a soft body and very little astringency. Aged white tea is a different proposition: pressed cakes kept for years develop dried date, honey and a distinctly medicinal-sweet character that has its own following. Yunnan’s Moonlight White, made by white-tea methods from large-leaf pu-erh material, is heavier and fruitier than anything from Fujian and shows how much the leaf contributes independently of the process.
Brewing, and the reputation problem
White tea is widely brewed far too cool and too briefly, because 'minimally processed' is read as 'delicate'. It is not delicate: 85 to 95 °C and three minutes or more suits most of it, and leafier grades take boiling water without complaint. Aged Shou Mei is commonly simmered rather than steeped. Under-brewing is the standard fault here, and it produces the thin, watery cup that convinces people the category has nothing to offer.
Common misconceptions
That white tea is the lowest-caffeine tea: bud-only grades such as Silver Needle are made from the part of the plant where caffeine concentrates, and can measure higher than many greens and blacks. That it is unprocessed — a long controlled wither is processing, and a demanding kind. That it must be brewed cool. And that Anji Bai Cha is a white tea, which it is not; it is a green tea whose leaves look pale on the bush.